Nathan Rees

Nathan Rees was the State Member for Toongabbie in Western Sydney for eight years, and NSW Premier 2008-09. He is now CEO of the Public Education Foundation, a charity which provides life-changing scholarships to public school students in need.

SBS documentary Struggle Street provided a strong reminder of just how essential a good public school system is. Life for William, Bob and Billy Jo may have been very different had they been better educated.

I've been a resident of Western Sydney almost all my life. I can categorically state that there are many more people dealing with even greater levels of chaos and hardship than shown on this SBS documentary.

So it has come to this. The ICAC has decided Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald engaged in corrupt conduct.

With the promise of further hearings and appeals, these matters will have sucked up the oxygen of NSW Labor for a full parliamentary term.

What to do? Simply, the future of Labor in NSW is in the hands of the thousands of good men and women who have joined the oldest party representing workers in the world. They are entitled to be angry, they are entitled to be indignant. They have every right to scream from the rooftops.